Oreos
by Kohaku no Hime
Summary: Oreos. He saw no real purpose being served here, except to entertain the minds of children. It was a chocolate cookie with icing in the middle…what was so special about that? No pairings, set post-series.


_Yeah, I was watching a commercial for Oreos the other day, and I suddenly was struck by this story. I saw it happen as plainly as if I was standing there, and I HAD to write it down. Mind, it's a short drabble type thing, so don't expect too much from it. But special kudos to the one who can find a certain reference in here...:3_

_Always a Bookworm, please be patient with me for a little while longer. I lost the file with your request on it and am working really hard to locate it; I may end up re-typing it. MagykTales, I found your request halfway written, and as soon as life isn't so hectic anymore I'll work on it. _

_For my normal disclaimer, see my profile._

_A little bit of an explanation here: I am not a vegetarian myself, so I have no idea what the rules are for one. However, I do know that they don't eat meat; I think vegetarians also don't eat animal products on principle. However, in this story I took a little bit of a creative license with the Ishtars, so no complaining about it, 'kay? _

_This is FanFiction, after all._

* * *

Oreos.

Really, now, what was the big deal behind these things? He saw no real purpose being served here, except to entertain the minds of children. It was a chocolate cookie with icing in the middle…what was so special about that?

Lavender eyes contemplated the object before him, debating on whether or not it was worth $4.95 to buy the item under his inspection. Beside the box he was currently looking at were its counterparts: Vanilla Oreos, Beach-Time Oreos, Strawberry Milkshake Oreos…why, there was probably a lot more if he bothered to look.

Impatiently, he brushed a strand of sand-colored hair out of his face as he eyed the box warily. He didn't understand what was so blasted special about them—the commercials always made it out to be the most fun experience in the world to do.

But what, pray tell, was so amusing about dipping a cookie into your milk? Wouldn't the crumbs get in your drink? And what about the cookie? Wouldn't it get soggy from the milk intake?

…Great, now he was analyzing the things.

Where he had grown up, though, there had been no such thing as Oreos, let alone cookies themselves; the midwife never made anything sweeter than honeyed bread, and he highly doubted that somebody would want to venture underground to give him a cookie.

Now there's a thought. Let's watch one of those commercial grandmothers walk into a dark, scary hole in the ground to deliver a batch of freshly baked, chocolate chip cookies to the poor Mole People below. While we're at it, let's throw in psychedelic, sadistic fathers and demonic alternate personalities.

Yeah, real laugh fest right there.

He wondered again why he was standing here in the aisle, glaring at the box as if expecting it to come to life and attack him violently; some poor, tired looking mother was eyeing him strangely and hustling her four children (all under the age of six) away from him. It was because of them that he had looked at the Oreos to begin with—the cry of, "I wanna 'oo-kee!" had brought him to his current train of thought.

Actually, come to think of it…had he _ever_ eaten a cookie?

He frowned, contemplating on that thought for a bit. What could be the harm in trying it out, anyway? If the cookies were useless, he would just throw the things away or give it to some little child in his neighborhood. With a sigh, a tan-skinned hand reached out and picked up the box, depositing it in the basket he was carrying.

Funny thing, really. He'd only come here because his sister had needed more milk and other groceries, and here he was buying cookies; the Ishtars ate everything but meat, mainly because they were vegetarian. Oh well—you learn something new every day, right?

Marik seemed to think so as he got in line to check out.

* * *

The Ishtars had not been living in Domino for long. In fact they'd moved to the city only a few weeks ago, and they were still unpacking their things into their new home.

Once Atem had returned to the afterlife and they had all realized that their duties as tomb-keepers were over, the remaining members of Ishtar clan had vacated their underground home, blowing up the entrances so that no one would ever find the place again. It would have been nice for them to warn the three Ishtar siblings about it, but they hadn't and the trio had returned to find their former home buried under rock and sand.

After that _pleasant_ (read: UNpleasant) discovery Marik, Rishid, and Ishizu had seen no real reason to remain in Egypt any longer; there was nothing there but foul, dark memories. So when the museum in Domino had called Ishizu about working there permanently, she had accepted the job almost at once.

Now here they were, in a nice home in a decent part of the city, and it was mainly thanks to Ishizu that they lived in that home; she had a very tidy sum of money saved up from working with the Egyptian government, and was being paid decently for her job at the museum. This allowed him and his family to live in moderate comfort, and Marik was grateful for it.

Marik liked it here in Domino, all right. He would eventually get the chance to visit Yugi and his friends once they were done unpacking, and the citywas a sight better than the endless sands of Egypt…but he did wish they had moved in when it wasn't the dead of winter.

He was not yet used to the cold of Domino winters, and driving around on icy roads with a motorcycle had been a nightmare. Marik idly wondered if he should have hitched a ride with Rishid when the eldest member of their family had gone to get his car inspected, but Ishizu had called just after Rishid had left. He saw the turn-off for his home and he cautiously made the turn, going slow on the icy surface.

In his neighborhood, Marik was not the only one, apparently, who owned a motorcycle; there was a house on the back corner of their street that had three parked motorcycles in the driveway: one was red, one was yellow, and the other was black. As of late, though, the yellow one was missing, the owner never having returned. Marik kept meaning to go over there and see who lived in that house, but moving in did take a lot of work and he was too busy at the moment. Maybe later, though…

A cursory glance at his driveway told Marik that his elder siblings were not yet home; since Ishizu had taken her own car to the museum, she would drive herself home from work. All three of the Ishtars drove slowly through the snow, not quite used to the weather yet. Marik himself had not ever seen snow, so to see the powdery substance had been quite the culture shock, and he had liked it at first.

That had been before he realized that snow happened to be _cold._

Pulling off his helmet and brushing the accumulated snow from his helmet and his leather jacket, Marik walked up to the front porch. Using the house key, he unlocked the door and stepped into the house, shaking off the snow that stuck to the soles of his shoes; he didn't want to track water through their house. Marik padded to the kitchen in socked feet to put away the groceries, dodging and weaving in between the numerous boxes that were in various stages of unpacking.

When he was three quarters of the way through putting groceries away, he once more came across the package of Oreos. Marik set them down and looked at them contemplatively. He wasn't really sure why he had even bought the things; he was not really a person who liked snacking on sweets. Shaking his head, he set them aside before putting everything else away. When he finished, his gaze went back to the cookies sitting on the counter.

He had so many other things he could be doing, like unpacking all the boxes in the kitchen and house. Marik had a whole list of things he should be doing.

Yet here he was, four o'clock in the afternoon, staring down at the Oreos with mild curiosity.

Marik frowned, at last heading to the cupboard and taking a small glass down from it. After pouring the glass halfway full with milk, he sat down at the table and, after a moment's hesitation, opened the package. A sweet, crumby, vanilla smell wafted up to him and he blinked in surprise; he'd thought the cookies would smell terrible because of their color. Gingerly, Marik picked one up between two fingers and inspected the almost black cookie cautiously, watching as a few crumbs fell away from it.

After eyeing it apprehensively for one last moment, he dipped the cookie halfway into the milk and once again inspected it. Now the Oreo was dripping with milk, a few black crumbs falling with the droplets of white liquid back into his glass.

Sighing, Marik said aloud, "Here's to ridiculous commercials," and took a bite out of the damp end of the Oreo.

And he blinked.

This…this was…this tasted _good._ He'd never eaten anything like the sweet taste in his mouth before in his life—whoever had thought up this idea of dipping Oreos into milk needed to be congratulated and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He chewed and swallowed the part of the cookie he had bitten off before eagerly dipping it back into the milk and taking another bite.

When he had finished the Oreo, he picked up another one and mirrored what he had done before, minus all the hesitation; although he was delighted by the new taste, Marik ate it slowly, to savor the flavor in his mouth.

A broad grin stretched across his face. These cookies were delicious. Any previous reservations that he had about the treat were gone—Oreos instantly became his second favorite food (his first was kushari) almost instantly.

As he was dipping a third Oreo into his glass of milk, he heard the front door open, followed by the familiar sound of his sibling's footsteps; they must have arrived at the same time.

Swallowing the Oreo chunk in his mouth, he hurried to the front door to greet his siblings, milk glass and Oreo box in hand. He enjoyed the delectable treats, true, but he also figured that his siblings wouldn't like something so sweet. The mental image of Rishid dipping an Oreo into the milk glass somehow didn't quite work, and Marik was certain Ishizu would decline from sugar altogether.

But then again, his siblings had never had cookies.

The Ishtar family had missed out on a lot of things due to their underground imprisonment, and Marik was quite determined to make up for lost time. He would not let them miss out on anything ever again.

…If nothing else, Marik got a whole box of cookies out of the deal.

Who could argue with _that_ logic?

"Rishid, Ishizu...do you want to try some Oreos?"


End file.
